Five Days Till Valentine's
by SmileandWaveBoys
Summary: Piper's got an admirer, that much is obvious the moment she opens her door to the box waiting outside for her. She doesn't complain, however. It's not everyday you get a gift five days in a row (counting the not-so-surprising ending that everyone but her was expecting to happen). All she knows is that there's five days 'till the 14th. She's really anything but excited. Jasper AU.


**A/N: Just a little something for the 14th (meaning today, obviously). I honestly get annoyed with this particular holiday, but I'm doing my best with this one-shot. Hope you enjoy this!**

**Beware, Jason can sort of be pictured as a little creepy in this.**

**I was sort of sick while writing this, so I'm not sure how it turned out. Just warning you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters at all.**

* * *

The first day Piper McLean woke up to the sound of her loud alarm cranking open her dreamy thoughts, she had no idea what was there to be expected waiting on her doorstep once the doorbell rang unannounced. The only thing she could remember at that time, the moment she opened up the door to her cozy little house she lived in with her father, was having her eyes widen in shock and disbelief at just exactly what she was looking at.

She glanced both ways; as if that would help seeing who could have possibly given her the box she currently held in her hands, but to no avail. Whoever had given her this gift had clearly dashed away before she had anything to do with it.

And it was most obvious that it was made to her and no one else. It was true, Tristan McLean, her father, had many admirers since he was in the film industry, but that didn't excuse the fact that _Addressed To: Piper McLean _was scrawled as neatly as it could be on the plastic covering of what was now her box. Again, she looked both ways; just to make sure, of course.

When she finally came to her senses and realized that whoever sent her this was clear in not showing up, she hesitantly walked backwards into her house and neatly shut her door, making sure not to wake her father. She walked over towards the kitchen and opened the box in front of her. After a couple of moments filled with loud noises of unwrapping and plastic popping, she finally got the object out.

It was a calendar. A countdown, more like. It was obvious the way there was a green tick on that day's date, February 10th, and a day, five days in fact, before a circle that was engulfed into a red circle that highlighted its date, February 14th.

She immediately let a groan out. If this was some cheap idea of wooing her, then it sure as heck would not work. She immediately suspected Dylan, this major flirt plus tramp in her school, but she looked closer at the handwriting and realized that it looked nothing like Dylan's sprawled one whenever he wrote dirty notes to her during class.

She frowned before finally putting away the calendar, in some drawer which she had been sure she would forget within a day's worth of time, but of course, it never did since that was the only thing she thought of ever since.

* * *

"Shit, Leo! Mistletoe isn't even _in_ season anymore!" Piper complained out loud as soon as she saw the evergreen plant hanging from the school door's frame. It was that time of year again where her high school had to throw a cheap Valentine's Dance, and the whole school went buzzing about it. The only reason why she had been helping out at all, was because Jason and Reyna, her two friends and also the student body presidents, asked her to.

Leo was there because...well, he always tended to follow her around everywhere. It wasn't like she was complaining anyway about that; after all, it got her share of the work taken care of. "What?" the Latino boy himself looked up from arranging the plants to look at her straight in the eye. "But it's for Valentine's! What better way to make out with someone if you're forced to?"

She felt herself rolling her eyes before she even knew she was doing it. "Only you would make that assumption."

Leo shrugged, returning to whatever he was doing. "Why, it's not like you actually care how this turns out."

Piper stared at the back of his uneven, curly head of hair for a while after that, figuring why in the world would she care? It's not like she ever did before. She hated Valentine's, everyone knew it. _So why should this time be any different?_

She eventually decided that Leo was right, for once in his life. Who cares if there was mistletoe hanging from the walls? Who truly gave a shit? And to defy how she felt before even more, she sought out a bunch of candy corn and other treats and set them on the table for appetizers.

It wasn't even until she was heading out of the gym where the dance was supposed to be located just a couple of days from then, was the very bag that contained all of the want-full plants that started it all. She peered at the description more clearly, not quite understanding what it would mean. The font was too small to be noticed at a distance, but what it said was the thing that shocked Piper the most and she immediately connected the dots.

_Four more days. Mark your calendar._

* * *

On the third day 'till Valentine's, Piper was at her own house, but this time she wasn't alone. Her sister from another father, Drew Tanaka, was at her house for a reason Piper didn't know. They were the same age and there was no doubt that Drew was beautiful, but she did tend to show off a little bit. For starters, she would wear an excessive amount of makeup, she'd walk around with a little more sass in her stance, and with every stride she took, a handful of ringlets would bounce at her shoulders.

So you could see why Piper absolutely despised her. Especially once Jason himself decided to pay Piper a visit, and Drew seemed to get the wrong idea. The moment Jason opened his mouth to speak, Piper knew just how messed up this could turn out, especially once Drew swung her head at his direction, paid him a quick once over with her feasting brown eyes and walked over to where they were.

"Oh, hey, Piper, I just came here 'cause - "

"And just who are you?" The little drama-infested queen herself cut in, a light smile Piper had seen on her so many times when she was around boys had noticeably appeared across her pink lips.

Jason himself looked a little confused by the interruption. It was clear he had been running on the way over to her place; his blown blonde hair, pink cheeks from the cold, and shirt pressing against his body that made whatever was left of Piper's innocence to go haywire and her heart lightly flutter. She shook away those unusual thoughts and decided to focus on the situation instead, doing her best to ignore the awkward presence of the newly found tension. Well, for her at least.

"Uh - "

"He's Jason. My friend," Piper answered once she got her head back in track. She didn't know if she even wanted Drew to know the tinge of possessiveness she accidentally used into her words, and she herself was a little confused by it. It was clear that Drew had been watching Jason just as intensely as Piper admittedly had, and that rose feelings of annoyance that she hadn't felt in a long, long time.

Drew gave a sideways glance at the brunette girl beside her before paying unwanted attention back at the boy in front of her. "_Jason_. Piper, I didn't know you had friends."

The tone was lighthearted and it was obvious that she was making it seem as if she was teasing, but Piper knew better than to be fooled by that. And maybe if she was a bit more younger and more naive she would have been affected by the comment, but she couldn't find it in her to snap back, even though her mind was screaming at her to do it.

To make it even more surprising, neither one of the two replied back. Jason was the one who broke the sisterly tension that had been going on. "Believe it or not, she does. _A lot_ of them, in fact," he stated before rolling his blue eyes in irritation. He muttered something she couldn't quite catch but she was more than sure it was another insult, and Piper didn't know why she found herself almost smiling visibly at that.

"Why'd you really come here, Sparky?" she asked, ignoring her frustrated half-sister that had somehow disappeared from her view, a black phone in her hand. Jason smiled brightly before handing her a small letter, his hands shaking a little. If Piper hadn't been so intent about wondering just what exactly could have been in the small package, she would have been curious as to why the atmosphere had shifted into a slight nervousness.

"Found this on my desk earlier along with a note telling me to give it to you. Sorry I didn't give it sooner," he shrugged before heading back to the door once again. "See you at school, alright?"

"Yeah," she answered absentmindedly before opening the envelope, not even noticing when Jason finally exited her house. Piper rushed to the nearest table and dumped out its contents once she realized that it had any. A small note landed gracefully on the mahogany table below her.

_It's a cheap stereotypical dance, so there's bound to be punch. Meet me there._

One ticket to the dance was attached to the note as well.

* * *

There came the fourth day since the first, and Piper felt strangely creeped out with everything that was happening. And why wouldn't she? She never had an admirer like the one she had now. And she didn't understand why anyone would want to treat her like that anyway. She couldn't believe she would be worth all the trouble.

But still, she waited. She waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing happened for a long time until later on, just when she was about to finally give up and decide (or make herself believe anyway) that she really didn't care about it.

Another package was placed outside her house, even though she couldn't recall anyone ringing the doorbell. Or hearing the doorbell, in any case. When she found it, she immediately leaped into opening it, her heart pounding in a newly found fondness at whoever was doing this to her. It truly annoyed her just how hooked up she was on this person, but it couldn't be any much nearer to the truth.

She practically ripped open the package, and when she did, she tenderly brought out the feather-like object in her hands, admiring the softness of it. It wasn't until she got a full view of what it actually was, did she realize that it actually was a feather.

A turquoise one to be exact; with tints of light green splayed across it. This time, for the first time, she smiled while reading the note instead of feeling slightly disgusted like she used to have done.

_Reminded me of you._

That was it. No other crappy innuendo or something to cover it up. This was the first gift that actually meant something to her.

The first gift she actually took seriously and to take the other ones seriously just as much.

* * *

It was the day where Piper held her most highest expectations, though she wasn't expecting much. To be honest with herself, she didn't even know what _to _expect. All she knew sort of what to do was get dressed for the dance. Yeah, that's right. She finally decided that she was going to take the risk and go for it. She was done; all she wanted to do now was figure out who started this all.

She decided not to wear pink, however; she didn't want to look like she was trying _too _hard. But despite it all, this was the first occasion where she actually sort of tried in her efforts to look nice. She even applied a little bit of makeup and put her hair into a loose braid to top it all off.

She even attached the feather she had received to her braid (it was a last minute decision). When she reached the party, a lot had changed since she had helped out creating it, and she was proud of the work she had accomplished, despite her protests. She noticed that the mistletoe was still up and about every turn she looked, and she smirked when she realized that it was spray-painted pink and red. Obviously Leo's doing.

"C'mon, Pipes, don't you wanna go dance?" her friend Annabeth tried to offer, her boyfriend earnestly tugging on her arm towards the dance floor.

And as much as Piper liked dancing by herself, third-wheeling while her best friend and boyfriend grind on each other all night long, she was still waiting for this secret person she had been curious about for what felt like an eternity. She smiled instead, "Nah, it's fine. You go, I'm just gonna go...get some punch."

So, yeah, the ending to that statement ended on a weird note, and Annabeth noticed it too, but she thought better than to say anything back to Piper because she just nodded understandingly before heading off with Percy, her boyfriend.

After a couple of moments laughing at the way Percy danced awkwardly around, his arms flailing in a way that nobody but Annabeth would think was cute, she finally decided enough was enough and she got out of her seat and headed toward the punch table.

Once she figured that she had awkwardly stood there for long enough, she decided to head back with a deep feeling of disappointment and self-pity for actually believing someone might think of her like that. Just when she was almost completely away from the area, a male voice from a couple of feet behind her spoke out loud, startling Piper a bit. "Hi."

She whipped around, hoping to finally meet whoever it was that she was supposed to be meeting, but instead it was a familiar blonde boy, even yet still, though it wasn't whom Piper was expecting to meet, made her heart beat unnaturally just like it had that day with her sister. "Er, hey," she spoke to Jason, meeting his eyes.

He smiled softly before saying, "Well, don't sound too disappointed."

She let a laugh escape out of her lips before speaking back to him, feeling a little guilty that she acted that way towards him. "Whatever."

He raised his eyebrow at her questioningly, his smile still present on his face. "Expecting someone?"

"Why would you think that?" she asked in what she would hope to be a teasing manner. The last thing she wanted was Jason freaking Grace to know that she had been waiting for some boy all along like some definition of a loser. She glanced down again sadly a little before sucking it up and mentally shook herself. _It's Valentine's Day. You aren't supposed to care._

When she finally focused her eyes on the boy in front of her, only then did she realize his expression. He was..._studying _her. As if he wasn't completely sure how to talk to her properly without tripping over himself. It was a weird thought, considering that was exactly how she felt toward the situation. "What's wro - "

However, before she could even finish that question, she found her lips were cut off with something strangely sweet but rough; sort of like candy corn but sweeter. She couldn't find it in her to react in the way it was obvious he wanted her to, due to the sudden shock at the whole situation, and she couldn't do anything but stay still. And shut her eyes. Relishing in what was going on, even if her mind was telling her that it was wrong.

Well, fuck what she thought. She liked being kissed by him, surprising or not, so when he finally pulled back, she did nothing but gape at him as everything seemed to click together in her brain. It became acutely aware that they were right by the punch tables while it happened.

"Why..." Piper tried to speak, before swallowing then continuing again. "Why did you...?"

Jason thankfully cut her off, "One reason would be 'cause we're under the Valentine mistletoe." He even nudged up with his head to prove a point that there was, in fact, a bright red plant just above her, dangling to prove its presence. It was clear, though his voice seemed confident, something about his posture gave away just how nervous he was around her and the situation they were in.

After a while, she finally looked closer at him before chuckling to herself, a wave of relief mixed in with strangely comfort all mingled together into one satisfactory mood. "What?" he said with an edge of anxious in his words.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she asked, smiling, only confirming her thoughts when he smiled sheepishly at her in a way that read _Well.. _and she laughed once again. "All along. How the heck was I so oblivious?"

He chuckled before wrapping his arms more securely around her waist, making it clear that she was only his and she would never be getting away from him; not in anyone's dreams. "Yeah. You really were." She rolled her eyes at him, something she'd wanted to do for a long while. "Hey, Pipes?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She sighed exasperatedly before kissing him on the lips lightly, sending a tingly feeling through her body. "Love you too."

"Nice feather, by the way."

"Oh, shut up."

It was February 14th. Valentine's Day. The day she hated the most; yet the one she learned to cherish.


End file.
